Study Drop: Can One HPV Shot Be as Good as Three?

by Anna Maltby

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is a safe and hugely effective cancer-preventer: This we know. But what we also know is that to fully protect yourself from cervical cancer, you have to get all three doses of the vaccine -- and most women don't. In fact, a study last year found that the number of young women who complete all three doses dropped from 50 percent in 2006 to less than 22 percent in 2009!

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Potentially good news on that front: A study in Cancer Prevention Research finds that just two doses of the HPV vaccine result in comparable protection against the two most cancer-causing strains of HPV as do three -- and even women who only got one dose still had high levels of antibodies against those two strains a full four years after getting the vaccine.

"Vaccination with two or even one dose could simplify logistics and reduce costs," says Mahboobeh Safaeian, Ph.D., the lead researcher on the study and an investigator at the National Cancer Institute. Safaeian also suggested this conclusion could also be potentially huge in developing parts of the world, where more than 85 percent of cervical cancer occurs and is the most common cause of cancer death in women.

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Before you go canceling that ob/gyn appointment, though, know that the study was done on Cervarix -- which only protects against cancer-causing HPV -- and not Gardasil, which also provides protection against some HPV strains that cause genital warts. (So we have no idea whether one or two doses of Gardasil would protect you against warts. Not a risk we're guessing you want to take.)

Plus, it's simply too early to say that one dose of Cervarix is better than three. For now, Dr. Safaeian says, women under 26 should stick to the CDC-recommended three-dose course of the vaccine.

To learn more about the HPV vaccine and other healthy ways to prevent cancer, check out SELF's cancer handbook.

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